Strange Girls
Skull
ASR029
Another mind-blowing recording from the vaults of Clayton Noone (The
Futurians, CJA) and Kaaterama Morehucan (Smokehouse). This one is older than
the CJA/Smokehouse tape we released last year, but you would think it's a
natural progression from it. Teamed up with Sugar Jon, the three of them
jaunt through some rocking numbers, wailing away on their guitars, drums,
and vocal chords. It's a short, but epic follow up for sure. This ultra
limited release will whet your collective pallets for the upcoming Sundowner
LP, which again, features CJA and Smokehouse. Keep an eye out for that late
this year/early next. In the meantime, crank the volume on this one while
you're sipping some lemonade under the hot summer sun. It's *that* chill.
Smokehouse : guitar, vocals, drums
CJA : guitar, vocals, drums
Sugar Jon : guitar, vocals, drums
3" CDR edition of 50
Starving Weirdos
Absolute Freedom
ASR024
"Here it is, our first 7" and we're PSYCHED!!! These two sides represent
some of the earliest of SW material; culled from old 4 track tapes recorded
in long lost living rooms, with friends and on the fly. Two kernels given
the royal treatment, thanks to our friends at Abandon Ship! One an
ontological cry into the abyss, the other a march in dedication to those
forgotten souls who call it home." - Starving Weirdos
7" edition of 500...with pro-printed cover art and insert
Panopticon Eyelids
Glitter Vomit
ASR035
Glitter Vomit was recorded on Mini-Disc at The Pines during the phantom power sabotage incident, winter 2007. The Alien Altars (rival gang) hijacked the sessions, stole our booze and beanies, drugged us and forced us at gunpoint to sonically wear boogie boots and glitter pants. Unphased and deep-zoned, we ripped through their inspirational cue cards like "Thin Testicles", "Free Boogie, White Boy" and "Fuck You! No! Not You! You! - Fela Kuti"... They kidnapped our bassist that night, too!
c43 edition of 100
Steve Gunn
ASR034
Steve Gunn from GHQ solo outing reissue from Onomato label, 2007. Not many people have had the chance to hear these recordings, based mostly around his acoustic guitar improvisations and inspirations from travels in Morocco. Vocal help on last track from Heidi Diehl (WWVV, Vanishing Voice, Time-Life).
cd-r edition of 200
Warmth
Paradise Found In Dirt
ASR031
These are the sounds of desolation. Imagery of a sweltering, barren desert comes to mind. Riding a dying camel, with an empty canteen dangling from your neck, the future seems bleak. You notice a glimmer on the horizon. Hope is momentarily restored. Warmth (aka Steev Thompson) evokes this type of scenario with his latest release. Before it's over, he gives you one last taste of hope before laying you down for eternal rest. The ever elusive paradise we've all been looking for. Now gone, just as quick as it arrived. There is no hope. Only Warmth.
c21 edition of 100
Slasher Risk
Vole
ASR030
"Voles are small rodents similar to mice but with stouter bodies and shorter hairy tails. Vole introduces some new ideas and textures into the Slasher Risk catalog. The A side sees us on one hand going deeper into the realm of electronic noise, offering our first use of looping and tape manipulation, harsher junk-electronic material with an extended almost Native American style war-drumming throughout, while on the other hand also displaying something otherwise unprecedented in our other recordings, a surprising venture into more traditional 'rock' territory, albeit improvised, featuring a steady drum groove and fuzzed out yet discernible guitar with reverberated, echoing vocals. The B side is more akin to an audio map of the opening scene in Macbeth. Heavy dark and stormy nighttime textures in the soundscape, distant lightning flashes, lots of toil-and-trouble fair-is-foul style black arts going on in the negative space between sage and incense wafts. We were using all kinds of crazy cooking and kitchen tools, pots and pans, some cat-grooming brushes, broken radios, c.b. transmitters, and various containers of water and microphones. Uncooked rice ended up everywhere. Don't take that dose operating heavy machinery."
- Andy Borsz
c6 1edition of 100
Fantastic Magic
Witch Choir (Repress)
ASR033
For anyone who missed out the first time around, or those looking for a higher fidelity version of this release...
"Take a magical trip on a pegasus through a field of LSD. Flowers harmonize and dance among young wizards at the festival of the equinox.", stated a mystical nypmh as he sat perched apon a toadstool, shanai in hand. These thoughts come to mind as a neo-psychedelic journey begins through a field of emerald green grass and a multicolored sky that is Fantastic Magic. Pull up a woven floor mat and enjoy the fruits of the earth as you delve into three young wizards journey through the island forest."
- Orion Ferguson
cd-r edition of 400
Human Adult Band
Impotent & Filthy: Live @
Th' Big Pink Philadelphia, PA
ASR026
The day Syd Barrett died Trevor Pennsylvania of the Human Adult Band was committed to the loony bin. Coincidence or not, Human Adult Band's wiped out primitive jams and subliminal logic lyrics successfully channel the energies and otherworldliness of the psychotic trance state. Put your head phones on and your walkman in a fanny pack. Wander the streets of the isolated part of town. Kick up some snow. Buy a deli sandwich and eat it alone.
- Trevor Pennsylvania
c30 edition of 100
About the performance: This is a un-cut live set from April Fools Day 2006 @ The Big Pink, Philadelphia, PA. Human Adult Band at that time was Trevor Pennsylvania-bass/vox, King Darves-drms & Mike McCoskey-gtr. This set featured Dave Sutton (Car Commercials, Ladderwoe, Current Amnesia) on electronics.
Listening instructions: To experience, you must wear good-quality headphones. This music was recorded binaurally, so to experience psychoacoustic sound your ears must have discreet inputs (i.e, headphones, earphones).
For more information on M.A.L.O.R.Y., the binaural mic, and her other recordings visit:
http://www.stairwaytofreebird.com/malory.html
http://www.myspace.com/malory
Gang Wizard
Live In Paris
ASR021
"We claimed to be touring Europe with just the bare necessities. We
claimed that any amp and drum situation would work for us. Paris put
this claim to the test. The drum kit was a snare, a kick, and a street
sign. The amplification was a single blown out PA. So we ran two
guitars, three full electronics set ups and the vocals through the PA, and
just went for it. The massive amounts of signal cancellation
transformed five musicians into one single Frankenstein. The street sign
didn't work as a cymbal, so dump a dump had to do. But somehow this
became the most powerful set of the entire tour. Insistent throbbing
distortion that somehow is a rock band, except when the PA would
overheat and only vocals/drums remained. Rowdy French speaking
audience imitating whatever they thought our gibberish lyrics were.
Most told us the set was too short, but twenty minutes spent hanging off the
edge of chaos felt like ages to us. We're very proud of this
performance. This is what music sounds like when you work for it. Too
many universal rock bands are just doing it to bring themselves
pleasure. Doing it for the pleasure of the audience sometimes means
that the performer doesn't have fun at all. Which is 100% ok, since
the only thing that matters is how the audience feels."
- Brian Miller
3" CD-R edition of 100
Saints
Umbanda
ASR022
Jarringly intense noise-with-a-purpose from this Californian duo. Hold onto your butts.
"Like pulling the sun with a beast drawn plow through a lush jewel field in wet-diamond South America with Macumban's mambo bassdrum looking for a T. Rex in the moonflood. Bend down low."
C31 edition of 100
Bjerga/Iversen
Empire of Dirt
ASR020
"Bjerga/Iversen have been exploring the sound ghosts of the grey area for 3 years now. Deep studies in amplified clutter, tape hiss and the mesmerizing nature of the psychedelic drone has resulted in close to 40 records and a bunch of gigs through Europe and the UK as well as Norway. No rest, no second thoughts, no quality control (some might say) but always in the "now sound", always mucking about, always trying to catch that ghost..... This is a live set from the Overtoom 301 club in Amsterdam, recorded April 6th, 2007"
-Sindre Bjerga: Tapes, contact mikes, guitar, kitchen utensils
-Jan-M. Iversen: Electronics.
C41 edition of 100
Nessmuk
Flies Free
ASR013
This 3" EP features Pennsylvania's finest: Kevin Moist and friends from some of his other projects, The Clear Spots and Evening Fires. He's transcribed a fitting description for it:
"Scenes from a mountain travelogue: Ghostly peaks glimpsed through shifting fog, followed by a climb across a rugged expanse of boulders, opening into a wide canyon bathed in sourceless light. Nineteen minutes of four-track cave drones transmitted via guitars, synths, and spirit shakers. "
- Kevin Moist
3" CD-R Edition of 100.
David Newlyn
A Nervous State of Mind
ASR011
Hailing from Durham, UK Newlyn creates an aural landscape of beauty and relaxation. Meditative and ambient sounds will put you in a remarkable mindset of well-being and contentment.
"A Nervous State Of Mind' – 9 tracks recorded over the past few months, usually on a Saturday afternoon when the house is empty. The tracks were recorded on digital 4 track, mini-disc and PC using guitar, keyboard, and various bits and pieces of software. The muffled sounds at the beginning of Just Might Fade Away were recorded on a mobile phone in a supermarket. "
- David Newlyn
C32 Edition of 100.
Capricorn Wings
Precenc
ASR015
"The Capricorn Wings project is the same duo as Ghost Brâmes of the Cerf 's Florian Tositti and Jacob Garret from Angers, France. A different perception of style, where they play to construct similar sounds and to manipulate a dark atmosphere. In a little bit more acoustic/soft way, these two long improvisations were played during the latest procession of the duo in May 2007."
- Florian Tositti
C61 Edition of 100.
Stoneburner
Abydos
ASR010
"At times ferocious, at times lying half dead on the floor, the music of Stoneburner came from a day of visitation and invention. The members of Agilvsga in their native Tulsa play host to a traveling Los Angeles musician from (VxPxC). This is a partial document of their long journey into night and its pages are blowing in the wind. Expect more blasted broken-wire transmissions from their smoking wooden hearts soon.
Abydos is a ramshackle concoction of near-beer, Thai food from Tulsa and jet lag. New friends and enemies join in song, cross-connecting guitars and moogs, sending cryptic smoke signals to the heavens."
- Grant Capes
C38 Edition of 100.
Thousands
Skinless/Boneless
ASR009
"With their releases finally catching up to their prolific back catalog of recordings, this Los Angeles collective crosses many lines in this, their first tape for Abandon Ship. "Skinless/Boneless" weaves together dreamy shoe-gazer lines with pummeling hardcore and an ominous sense of something gargantuan approaching.
Creatively known as a supergroup, Thousands is more of an intersection of crystal spheres, harmonizing vibrations from six hearts and minds. More than a sum of its parts, the music of Thousands is a new birth, a raging infant older than its apparent age."
- Grant Capes
C60 Edition of 100.
6majik9
Sinister Kindness
ASR008
"When playing becomes ritual, when derangement becomes religion, there is only majik. Behind us nothing, stretching out before us, nothing. In a single moment is all, seeing before seen, glorious lights upon upturned faces, tears streaming down as understanding floods our cells. Life is deadly, make it scream before we fade forever away."
- Michael Donelly
C60 Edition of 100.
Nonhorse
Xol Mic
ASR007
"Xol Mic is a double burning cry for help and cleansing. I was moving out of bad trauma and into
good trauma after traveling the US and Canada and all was unmoored and wierd. I was scratching at something, and brooding over bad old tapes of long winded
effected harp and reeds and good new tapes of pure house sounds at my new diggs, where the only thing i could focus on was wandering around vaguely with a
tape recorder. The A side was recorded after a fateful exposure. My mother is a science teacher in Brooklyn where i myself went and was young, and in the thrash of moving boxes full of utter trash i stopped home.
"Xol Mic dissapeared two days ago" she said gravely when i walked in. Xol was one of my favorite of her classroom stories, as him and his brother 'Cruise Mic' had a massive intimadating mother who wore cornrows and team jerzies that matched her Timbalands and boasted of her massive wealth and propensity for violence to the other mothers at every turn. Poor Xol always looked pained and embarrassed. "we called his mothers cell and she's like, 'oh sorry yeah, we all had to go to LA to return a fur coat...i gotta go...' im worried about the kid." 'Torquque binder' was recorded that night.
The B side is for Tony Miller, who's room i moved into. The bass claranet is played by my pal Foxy Pink gloves. During the recording, a smoking brazer cracked
in half and the coals fell into my sock drawer, setting it ablaze. Foxy kept playing as i put it out with beer, and we continued for 20 more minutes in the
smoke filled room. Thanks Tony.... "
- G. Lucas Crane
C90 Edition of 300.
Buck Paco
I've Wasted My Breath
ASR006
"Over the last ten or so years, Buckland Oswald Paco and company have
amassed a collection of recorded material in excess of 100 songs (for
lack of a better word).
About 95 percent of which have never been released.
Falling short of wasting no part of the animal, the band have done
their best to whittle down their portfolio small enough to fit the
three-inch format.
Clocking in at somewhere in the 20+ minute range, "I've Wasted my
Breath" is a rather abridged, but cherry-picked survey of The Buck
Paco Band's catalogue.
All the slag has been neatly scraped away, leaving five solid gems on
which to ruminate just long enough to realize the disc is already
over and you need to start it up again."
- Eric McDade
3" CD-R Edition of 100.